Mumbai bowlers made us look very ordinary: Jaydev Shah

Saurashtra skipper Jaydev Shah was visibly disappointed with his team's lack of fight in the final against 40-time Ranji Champions Mumbai but gave credit where it was due and praised the Mumbai bowlers for taking the game away from them.

Saurashtra had to endure 2 horrible batting collapses, failing to get past 200 in the 1st innings and 100 in the second innings, as they were smashed by an innings and 125 runs by Ajit Agarkar's team with Dhawal Kulkarni impressing most.

"I think, us losing the toss was a big blow and after that Mumbai bowled really well and got us out cheaply. We should have restricted them to around 200-250 for a realistic chance of getting back, but we couldn't

Even in the second innings, they bowled really well. Dhawal Kulkarni was exceptional. Our batsmen weren't at fault but their bowlers were really good."

Shah refused to blame his batters for the big loss, instead showered praise on Mumbai's bowlers for making them look ordinary.

"It wasn't the case of our batsmen not wanting to stay on. Dhawal Kulkarni bowled brilliantly and we just got out. No one tried to hit their way out of trouble or fell to a rash shot, the Mumbai bowlers just made our batsmen look ordinary and that is the key point."

He added that if the decision that went in Wasim Jaffer's favour when the batsman was yet to open his account had gone their way, then perhaps they could've had a shot at getting back in the game. Jaffer survived the close LBW call in the opening minutes of Mumbai's innings and went on to post a masterly 132 and give the hosts a big 1st innings lead.

Yes, they totally outplayed us. If we had got rid of Wasim Jaffer early, there was a decision which could've gone our way, Mumbai would've had atleast 100 runs lesser," Shah said.

The Saurashtra skipper, who himself had a torrid time with the bat in the match, however promised that his team will learn from their mistakes and come back strongly in the next season.

"But we've learnt that on a seaming track we have to maintain our focus and concentrate more. We'll practice harder on playing swing and come back hard next year," he said.

The skipper reflected on having to play with batting stalwart Chesteshwar Pujara for this game. The now India regular was only used to warm the benches during the ODI series against England and Shah opined that his team would've been a much better one had BCCI released the top-order batsman.

"Yes, of course! Psychologically we were affected by their lead. But we collapsed and lost the plot. If Pujara was there, then we would've known that we have an India player in our ranks and even the opponent will be wary of that, but I cannot guarantee that he would've scored and bailed the team out of trouble. Nothing is certain in cricket. Nevertheless, it would've been nice if BCCI had released the player for this match," he summed up.